Filed under: Business, News, Random | Tagged: Boston, Business, Companies, endangered species, Politics, Public Policy, Random | 2 Comments »
The financial news Boston October 22 1885
Posted on September 25, 2009 by mastadonzq
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Pollution in the Charles River
Posted on September 15, 2009 by mastadonzq
pollution
I just read a book called Zodiac by Neal Stephanson and I liked it very much mostly because it takes place in Boston, the rivers and harbor which I know quite well.
It made me realize how different things are now in terms of pollution. In the eighties even the Charles and the Inner harbor were totally toxic, and I remember seeing the remnants.
44 Pleasant street in Watertown and behind all buildings to the west of there was poison. The small waterfall directly to the east had shopping cart, plastic bags, and all sorts of unidentifiable trash. I saw a large transistor and battery once.
Me and my friends played in the extensive muck surrounding the beginning of the smooth Charles, past the tiny waterfall in Watertown.
Creepy trees growing out of slime
All still water a magic petroleum of rainbow colors
sink to the knees take many showers
But now like many places in Boston, IE Southie and the Combat Zone, the river has been gentrified.
Rich folks lead to clean rivers and corners and I suppose it’s not a bad thing, the Charles River in Watertown smells good and in the former combat zone there is nary a hooker or coke dealer to be seen.
The point is that at least in North America (excluding Mexico) the populous seems to have a proper outrage at being poisoned and so at least on the surface, plants can grow again.
Filed under: Business, Environment, Philosphy, Recycling, Science, Tidal Power | Tagged: Gentrification, Oceans, oil, Pollution | 2 Comments »
I liked Ted Kennedy
Posted on August 28, 2009 by mastadonzq
even though he caused a great many traffic jams that I got stuck in…
“Bostonians like the feeling of being steeped in history,” Ted Kennedy wrote. “They give special deference to the old — the ancient building, the small shops, the restaurants with the large overhead fans where their grandfathers ate, …the old characters who stand around the Court House.”
Filed under: News, Philosphy, Random | Tagged: Public Policy, Random | Leave a comment »
Calpine
Posted on August 22, 2009 by mastadonzq
The best and most plentiful source of power on this planet is geological activity. I have mentioned this belief before particularly when talking about what exactly the oil companies will do when the oil runs out.
I have recently become a resident of the State of California so instead of trying to cover national companies, I will focus on companies in the Southwest in addition to ones in New England.
This corporation has a longish history of natural gas plants in Wisconsin and the Southwest and has a truly sustainable geothermal plant in Northern California. It is estimated that the development meets 60 percent of the power demand for the coastal region between the Golden Gate Bridge and the Oregon state line.[1]
The Geysers, a geothermal power field located 72 miles (116 km) north of San Francisco, California, is the largest geothermal development in the world. . The Geysers consists of 22 separate power plants that utilize steam from more than 350 producing wells. The Calpine Corporation operates and owns 19 of the 22 facilities. The other three facilities are operated by the Northern California Power Agency and the Western GeoPower Corporation.
It is currently outputting over 750 MW
And I have a great history of the company from someone who knows them well, both from a financial and personal perspective:
Calpine had a hard time of it
because of the nature of the energy business and its proximity to National
Security. When Enron was overbought and tried to characterize loan
payments to various off-the-books entities such as Chewco and Raptor
(Raptor was also the name of a state of the art jet program at the Defense
Department) as revenue, their competitive entities, the oil companies,
banks, insurers and the U.S. Government, did it in with the Enron Task
Force (ETF is also the acronym for Electronically Traded Funds)–because,
as the saying goes–the public must diversify!). Anyway, the spill-off
from Enron, 911 and the NYSE shut down by Grasso et al., didn’t help
Calpine to say the least. Their funding was cut off and Buffett (yes
Warren) demanded pipeline companies carry more insurance coverage due to
the terrorist threat. It took six years to bankrupt Calpine and in late
2007 they filed Chapter 11. They emerged from bankruptcy with a five
billion dollar loan in 2008. They have various properties generating
geo-thermal power and build gas-fired power plants internationally.
Calpine has several “bases” headquarter loci, among them San Jose
California and Houston Texas and have a large Canadian real estate
portfolio including natural gas related interests.
-John
Filed under: Business, Energy, Geothermal | Tagged: alternative energy, Business, Companies, Geothermal, Green Jobs, Nateral Gas | 3 Comments »
Conflicting results
Posted on August 14, 2009 by mastadonzq
I got some harsh feedback from the last post, particularly because of the idea that sea levels are not rising. The UN hired some scientists to research levels rising and when they found no positive results they were fired and replaced with scientists who found results more in line with the rest of the report.
don’t overestimate our knowledge of the global climate, particularly it’s influences and reactions, very little about the climate is intuitive
the earth is on a much larger time scale, we have existed for the smallest fraction of time and may not be as powerful as we think…I hope not. Take a look at scenarios showing t what would happen if humans disappeared instantly.
The tides are mysterious, oddly enough in the 19th century we had the tides down to the minute but that’s a secret lost in the modern age. Perhaps this is because it isn’t necessary to sail on the tides anymore, I’ve had to do that when a motor broke and it’s quite a pain in the ass.
-we know more about the moon than the ocean
–this is not a reason to think emissions and pollution are not dangerous
at this point all sides of the political debate are throwing out a lot of BS…lots of spin on both sides.
find the studies by Dr. Nils-Axel Mörner, he’s an expert in the field despite the slander of fools.
Filed under: Business, Environment, Global Warming, Science | Tagged: Global Warming, Oceans, Politics, Scientific Studies | 1 Comment »
“It offends the human ego that nature is indifferent to our dreams”
Posted on July 13, 2009 by mastadonzq
This post is somewhat dated, I’ve been moving and haven’t had internet.
I forget where I heard that quote but if you haven’t guessed it relates to the G8’s “decision” not to allow an increase in global temp of more than 2C
This is dumb because it implies that we have a lot more control over global climate than we do.
Yes reducing carbon emissions would help the planet get back to an equilibrium but whether we can actually stop the current trends initiated more than two hundred years ago is a different question.
It is arrogant to state we have this much control over nature and stupid to assume that we know what will happen as temperatures rise.
Take sea level rise for example, IT IS NOT HAPPENING. This is not to say we shouldn’t reduce emissions and be clean for the future, just that symbolic goals without any reason to believe we can accomplish them doesn’t seem like the most effective way to change things.
…Particularly not when developing countries (ie the majority of the world) refuse to abide by this “decision”
Filed under: Business, Environment, Global Warming, News | Tagged: Business, Conservation, Global Warming, Politics, Public Policy | Leave a comment »
Top 50 Environmental Engineering Blogs
Posted on June 26, 2009 by mastadonzq
GROG is on this LIST at number 13 as an “Industry Insider”
They even wrote a little summery:
“GROG: green tech blog The main focus of this blog is Green Technology. Get reviews of the newest developments in sustainable design and renewable energy, and certain technologies that will promote energy independence and a cleaner environment.”
The list is a resource for engineering students and has a lot of good blogs on it.
Filed under: Environment, News | Tagged: Business, Education, sustainable design | 1 Comment »
LED part two
Posted on June 25, 2009 by mastadonzq
A while back I wrote a post on how LEDs might suck because my personal experience with them has been bad.
Well I’ve done the research and it seems clear that all lighting will eventually be LED lighting. My father just built a house lighted entirely with LEDs and his electric bill is ridiculously low. The problem at the moment is that there are a lot of poor quality LEDs coming out of places like China.
It is also very difficult to tell quality from crap just by looking so I would go by price. An LED bulb with room lighting capabilities will be about 3-4 dollars apeice. The investement is worth it for the lower electric bill plus you won’t have to change bulbs for more than ten years.
I reccomend Cree Lighting Products, particularly their xlamp series.
Edison’s incandescent bulbs take standard 60 watts
Compact flouesent take maybe half that about 20-30 watts
For the same amout of white light emitted (lumens) an LED takes 5-10 watts
Filed under: Energy, Gadgets, Green Building | Tagged: Conservation, Efficiency, LED, lighting | 7 Comments »
What are China’s Priorities?
Posted on June 9, 2009 by mastadonzq
There is somewhat of a standoff going on between all the countries in the world over this cap and trade emissions idea. Most notably is the US and China as we account for 40% of the world’s carbon emissions.
So what happens if we cap our emissions and China does not?
First we should look at what China wants because this is a hard thing to pin down. It seems clear that the people in charge in China do not put the same value on human life or quality of life. It follows that they could really care less about the environment or it’s inhabitants and wouldn’t pursue alternative energy on the grounds it poisons the planet.
China does want to be THE new superpower in the world and if they are clever they will have figured out that long term growth will inevitably require alternative energy infrastructure. China already has some alternative energy initiatives in place.
if we cap and they don’t we could put carbon tariffs in place but that might just lead to a large black market…
So until peak oil declines and coal reserves run out, China won’t actually cap emissions because it is a short term economic restriction. They will invest in alternative energy but like everyone else they will use fossil fuels to the bottom of the barrel.
Of course we might be told that they have capped emissions but like most regulations in China, they will go unenforced.
Filed under: Business, Energy, Environment | Tagged: alternative energy, Business, cap and trade, Coal, Conservation, endangered species, Oceans, oil, Politics, Pollution, Public Policy | Leave a comment »
GROG: green tech blog 